This invention relates to foldable shutters and more particularly to external shutters for protecting outside doors and windows from stroms and break-ins.
Foldable shutters usually consist of a plurality of vertical panels hinged together and supported on rollers in an upper guide, the bottoms being guided by a lower parallel guide. In one type, the panels have mounting attachments on tops and bottoms at their midpoints so that each panel swivels about it vertical axis as the door is folded and unfolded. An example of this type is shown in Cayton, U.S. Pat. No. 3,205.573. In this patent, the plastic panels are formed with beads at opposite edges extending into full-length hinge members. The hinge members have two separate slots receiving beads from adjacent panels, holding the panels together and allowing hinging motion. These hinge members give no strength to the mounting of the door. The patentee provides expensive metal caps for the tops and bottoms at the panels to get the needed mounting strength.
Another type of folding door utilizes elongated panels formed with piano type hinges extending the full length of the panels. The pintles for the hinges are longer than the panels, the upper ends carrying rollers and the lower ends extending into a lower guide. This construction is shown in Auten U.S. Pat. No. 2,351,656. Here the folding door is both supported and guided by its hinge pintles. However this construction requires prohibitive expensive individual moulding of the panels.